Strictly Come Dancing has reportedly signed up its first contestant for 2024 – and it’ll mark a historic first for the sequence.
The BBC competitors, which has discovered itself in sizzling water on account of alleged complaints towards skilled dancer Giovanni Pernice, is ready to return in September for its twenty second sequence.
With simply three months to go till the present comes again, producers are arduous at work making an attempt to enroll the celebs who will likely be competing to take dwelling the Glitterball trophy, following within the footseps of Ellie Leach, Hamza Yassin and Rose Ayling-Ellis.
The primary star is believed to have been chosen, with The Solar reporting Chris McCausland will likely be a contestant on the 2024 sequence.
McCausland, 46, is a comic and CBeebies actor, and his look would mark a primary for Strictly as he’s blind. The star misplaced his sight when he was 22 on account of a hereditary situation referred to as retinitis pigmentosa.
His reserving would observe Ayling-Ellis’s victory in 2021; the EastEnders star, who was partnered with Pernice, was the primary deaf contestant to seem on the present.
Whereas his look is unconfirmed., a supply mentioned:”bosses are delighted by the signing and assume Chris will likely be nice on the present” as “he has a hilarious sense of humour and an infectious character”.
They added that producers are “actually eager to showcase incapacity on TV and are aware of how essential it’s”, including that McCausland “is decided to point out it received’t maintain him again on the ballroom dance flooring”.
The Impartial has contacted the BBC for remark.
In addition to being a comic, McCausland performs Rudi, the market dealer, in CBeebies present Me Too! and beforehand appeared on Channel 4 sequence Terrified of the Darkish.
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For the present, he spoke brazenly about his expertise of going blind, saying that “when it began occurring it was scary and embarrassing”.
He added: “I bought myself into dangerous conditions as a result of I didn’t wish to ask for assist. I’ll by no means be on a stage enjoying area with everybody else.”
McCausland, who’s married and has a 10-year-old daughter, defined that he can “nonetheless see gentle and area” and has “an consciousness of the area round me, not when it comes to objects and issues, however when it comes to the room and whether or not there is perhaps one thing in entrance of me”>
He additionally mentioned on the time he doesn’t wish to “bang viewers over the pinnacle” together with his blindness, stating: “It’s nice that there’s folks coming by who’re capable of signify incapacity whereas additionally having the expertise to do the job correctly. There’s no level fast-tracking performers on to TV earlier than they’re prepared.
“My angle has at all times been to signify by not banging you over the pinnacle. I feel one of the simplest ways to signify a incapacity is to make folks overlook about it at any time when potential. It’s at all times a part of you.
“But when you are able to do a present the place, say, 80 per cent of it isn’t about being blind, that makes it extra impactful and funnier while you do speak about it. I imagine in illustration throughout the mainstream.
